Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)

Monday, November 01, 2010

Quantum Consciousness

Part 5: FROM COSMOS, TO CHAOS, TO CONSCIOUSNESS

By Pastor Larry DeBruyn

Neale Donald Walsch peddles New Age spirituality in books, recording, dialogs or “conversations” he had with “God.” The books are formatted so that his conversations and musings are typeset in normal characters while God’s statements appear in bold print. Walsch notes one physicist:

has proposed a conception of the universe that he has called “observer-participancy,” or a closed-loop participatory universe in which—as quantum physics would have it—nothing that is observed is unaffected by the observer. In other words, the Creator and the Created are One, each creating the other.[70]

After stating that along with the rest of humanity, he is a conscious Part of the System, and that as one energy unit he can affect the System via intelligent-consciousness, Walsch states: “And then along come chaos theory and quantum physics.” To this, Walsch’s god responds:

Yes. And quantum physics is simply the scientific explanation for how God—“the System,” if you please—looks at Its individual parts and watches Itself impacting those Parts.

You would call this phenomenon, in spiritual terms, a “higher level of consciousness,” or “increased self-awareness.” It is when That Which Is Aware experiences the fact that It affects that of which It IS aware.[71]

Walsch then muses, “‘Nothing which is observed is unaffected by the observer.’ The first law of quantum physics.”[72]

According to the New Spirituality, if the system is to run right, the human mind is essential. Whether individual or collective, consciousness is the key. If the system should find itself in trouble, then human consciousness can become the means to transform, even save, the system. As has already been pointed out, the new consciousness can be induced by engaging in meditative spiritual exercises designed to empty one’s mind and thereby create a mental state (i.e., a tabula rasa) in which fresh—perhaps environmentally sensitive—spiritual awareness can emerge. New Age spirituality believes that imagination and visualization, states of mind peculiar to the human species (the conscious part of the system), possess the power to transform reality. As stated in one New Age presentation on quantum spirituality:

I am much more than I think I am. I can be much more even than that. I can influence my environment, the people. I can influence space itself. I can influence the future. I am responsible for all these things. I and “the surround” are not separate. They’re part of one. I’m connected to it all. I’m not alone.[74]

Consciousness affects cosmos; mind influences matter, perhaps to the extent that whether real or imagined, a person might take a quantum walk on water. (The Shack, 140-141) With the new awareness, expectation of help from outside the system, from God, becomes an “afterthought.” Consciousness doesn’t need the Creator because it is believed that consciousness is the creator (Contra 2 Peter 3:10-13.). Via the exercising of their consciousness (their inner divinity) and not unlike those within the Word of Faith Movement, humans suppose themselves to be gods.[75]

This mixing of science and spirituality results in a cosmic-humanist worldview which exalts humanity and diminishes the Deity. In fact, all that is needed to breed order out of chaos is that humans develop the resident control mechanism in their minds—the supra-consciousness, the Gnostic knowing—by which they as gods (i.e., “Christs”) can stimulate the system to evolve to the next level (See Genesis 3:5.). Applying fractal theory to the potential of our species to evolve one biologist states: “Evolution’s repetitive, fractal patterns allow us to predict that humans will figure out how to expand their consciousness in order to climb another rung of the evolutionary ladder.”[76] When achieved, this awareness is considered “enlightenment.” Regarding the potential of a developed new consciousness, both individual and collective, it could be said, “They thought, and it was so.” By developing their consciousness, humanity can create a brave new world.

This is how the New Age/New Spirituality attempts to cross fertilize with quantum physics. Like the discordant sounds of musicians tuning their instruments before a concert, the conductor (i.e., human consciousness) takes control, directs, and transforms the cacophony (chaos) into a symphony (a fractal). In a symphony of thought (a harmonic convergence), little “christs” can first imagine and then transform chaos into order. As Emergent Church leader Leonard Sweet puts it:

The coming together of the new biology and the new physics is providing the basic metaphors for this new global civilization that esteems and encourages whole-brain experiences, full-life expectations, personalized expressions, and a globalized consciousness.[77]

spiritualization of science . . . has unquestionably made great strides. Its proposed change from a traditional value system based on analytical and rational thinking to a holistic view which imagines all aspects of intellectual pursuit to be in harmony with the mystical underpinnings of monism has led to the emergence of a global community having a heightened sense of cosmic spirituality that supposedly permeates all existence.[78]

THE SCRIPTURES

Contemplating the CosmosWe turn now turn to evaluate, biblically and theologically, the new “scientific spirituality” and the worldview it promotes.

Because the universe is there—after all, we humans are the consciousness of it—questions arise. Why is it there? Why not nothing? The Bible gives a very direct answer to the questions: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1, KJV; Compare John 1:1 ff.).

The New Spiritualists presuppose that reality is “one thing” (i.e., monism), that it is “It.” The historical Jesus however contradicted this understanding when He stated that reality consists of two worlds (i.e., dualism). To a divided and dualistic reality, Jesus gave the following witness to the Jews:[79]

Where I am going, you cannot come? . . . You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins . . .(John 8:22b-24a)

The things of earth lie within our ability to observe and understand. But heaven lies beyond our ability to observe and comprehend. While some things on earth below might be considered the shadow of things in heaven above, the one is not the replicate of the other (See Hebrews 8:5.). The reality of earth may infer the reality of heaven, but the realities are separate, not “one.”

New Age spiritualists reject this understanding of the two realities. They suppose that reality is one unified sphere (as above, so below), that “here-is-there” and that “there-is-here.” In their view, two different realities do not comprise the universe. The cosmos is but a divinized “One.” Science and spirituality are viewed to be but two aspects of the same cosmic One. This humanistic holism ends up believing that whether in a pantheistic or panentheistic sense, nature is God.

Ain’t So . . . As Above, So BelowBut the Bible describes reality as two separate spheres; first, heaven above, the dwelling place of God, and then earth beneath, the abode of man. Only in the Lord Jesus Christ do the two spheres connect. New Ageism therefore rejects the belief in the one-time incarnation of the historical Jesus Christ who came from above (See John 1:14, 18). And this is, as John stated in his first letter, “the spirit of the Antichrist” which resides perpetually in this world. The apostle wrote:

Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.(1 John 3:2-3, NKJV; See 2 John 7.)

Allow it to be stated that though God is “around” all things—He is omnipresent—He is not “in” or “through all things”—which is panentheism. If God is God, then the Creator-creation distinction must be maintained.

Solomon both asked and declared at the dedication of the Temple, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee, how much less this house which I have built!” (Emphasis Mine, 1 Kings 8:27, KJV). Solomon’s wise words put to flight any idea that matter is the panentheistic container of God.[80]

On Mars Hill, Paul addressed the Athenian philosophers and speculators, “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things” (Emphasis Mine, Acts 17:24-25, NASB.).

The holy God is before, above, and beyond time, matter, and space, and is therefore transcendent and separate from His creation. As one theologian remarks of God’s immensity:

Just as in the case of eternity there was a qualitative difference between it and time, there is a qualitative difference between God’s immensity and space. God’s immensity is uncreated, and space [like matter] is created. Created space [and matter], therefore, cannot be the place of his residence.[81]

If it is believed that God indwells everything in the universe, then God’s transcendence is sacrificed for immanence, and distinctions between the Creator, His creation, and His creatures are obliterated. If separation is ignored or denied, then the attribute of God’s holiness—His being separate from His creation and creatures—is lost. Spirituality is left with sacred places, spaces, and times. But these are meaningless to the Holy God who as Spirit can be worshipped everywhere and all the time!

Neither does divinity reside in energy (i.e., the Force) and/or in matter (i.e., idols). This helps explain why Jesus mandated true believers to worship the non-locative and imageless God in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:26). Idolatrously, both panentheism and pantheism materialize God in creation.

Quantum spirituality is based upon the world, not the Word, upon science and not the Scriptures. According to the New Spirituality, the opening of John’s gospel might be paraphrased:

In the beginning was the Cosmos, and the Cosmos was with Consciousness, and the Cosmos was Consciousness. The same was in the beginning with Consciousness. All things were made by It, and without It nothing came into being that comes into being.(My paraphrase, compare John 1:1-3.)

The Truth:In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1-3)*

Reprinted with permission. This article series is from a chapter in Pastor Larry DeBruyn's book, UNSHACKLED: Breaking Away From Seductive Spirituality, which is available from Discernment Ministries for a gift of $10.00 plus $2.50 for shipping. Orders can be placed by phoning: 903-567-6423. Bulk discounts are available. Book sales directly benefit "Eastern European Ministries," a very special mission project that is close to Pastor DeBruyn's heart.

About Me

Check your daily "HERESCOPE." Herescope is an online journal revealing heresies and false teachings affecting the church today. Copyright 2005-2018 held by the author or IRG, Inc. unless otherwise noted. Herescope is a term coined by Lynn Leslie literally meaning "scoping out a heresy." Herescope began as a regular magazine column in The Christian Conscience magazine published during 1995-1998 by IRG, Inc. The Discernment Research Group is an ad hoc fellowship of Christian researchers with roots dating back to 1985.